Slice of life in the City Beautiful

OFF-TRACK

Amitabh Shukla

It has now been almost two month since I moved to the City Beautiful – Chandigarh. What amazes me here is the facility extended by the government to those who love their drink. You can easily find a liquor shop every 100 meters in the city. If you are dying of thirst in the humid and sultry conditions and want to desperately buy bottled water, you will have to traverse half the city to find a shop and you will be lucky to get a brand of your choice.

But the guzzlers of Beer are spoilt for choice. So the youth simply do not drink water in the hot and humid conditions. They merrily go to the nearest booze shop and purchase a bottle of chilled Beer. Keeping alive the tradition of the city, even the tourists indulge themselves with Beer to beat the heat instead of water, which in any case is largely available only at the railway station and the inter-state bus terminals. In this “Green city”, only those travelling by buses and trains drink water, others prefer Beer during the day time and hard liquor in the evenings.

Having travelled to a lot of places in the country and also to a few places which are considered a paradise for drinkers, I did not find any other place, except Nepal which was so “booze friendly”. Here, the city administration goes all out to give a helping hand to the tipplers.

Even the booze shopkeepers and their neighboring shops have become innovative, something rarely seen in other places. For the first time, I found a shop, specializing in selling “drinking accessories”. This was located next to a busy shop selling all sorts of whisky, Beer, Wine, Vodka, Rum, Brandy and what not.

Curiosity got better of me and I examined the shop selling “drinking accessories”. The shop had a list of all the “accessories” used for drinking – soda, ice cube, plastic glasses, peanuts, mixtures, cold drinks of all variety, bottled water, even cigarette for those who smoke while drinking. The shop next to it was selling another drinking accessory, widely used in this part of the country – Tandoori Kukkad (chicken) and all its variants like Afghani chicken and the Tikkas if one was careful of the bones while gulping liquor.

So the list of “drinking accessories” was complete. Booze lovers, some of them fresh from their office or shop going to have their first drink of the evening and others in different levels of intoxication, were coming and purchasing the drink and the “accessories”. There was a business for everyone associated with the drinks and selling the actual stuff and the accessories. The guy selling ready-made clothes and the one selling stationary, were only watching with envy the business generated by their neighbor.

The patronizing hand of government is there everywhere. In the City Beautiful, liquor is perhaps cheapest in the entire country. It is 25 to 40 per cent cheaper (depending on the brand) than Delhi. Even the neighbouring Punjab and Haryana cannot compete with Chandigarh in liquor price.

Then, in Chandigarh, the city government implements the Master Plan religiously. Business can be carried out only from the notified areas. But the rule is not applicable for the booze shops. It can be set-up anywhere in the city. Temporary structures, selling liquor have sprung up all across the city, particularly on the outskirts and what is known as the southern sectors.

To facilitate such shops and increase their business, “Taverns” have opened. Again, they sell all “drinking accessories” right from glasses, water, soda to Tandoori Kukkad. All you have to do is buy your brand from the shop, flash the bottle in the Tavern and order all the dishes available in the air-conditioned make-shift “Taverns”. One can sit as long as one wants if one has ordered anything from the menu. Even drunken brawls are allowed here, provided it does not warrant the presence of the police and has not turned too violent.

Some of them are quite innovative with the names. A liquor shop has been named “The World of Whiskies” and the “Tavern” next to it in a posh sector called “Whisky Thieves”. But you cannot steal whisky from the shop and drink it in the “tavern” close by. It has one rule. If you place order worth a minimum of Rs 400 from the kitchen, you can sit in the AC hall. If you place an order of a lesser amount, then you will have to do with the non-AC hall. But the irony was that none of those drinking merrily actually realised after a couple of pegs whether they were sitting in an AC or a non AC hall.

The lovers of Bacchus never had it so good, in any part of the country, except perhaps Goa where Beer and hard liquor is available in every second shop. But the “reputation” of Chandigarh is growing and the old residents of the city think that it can easily beat Goa provided the government gave them some more help like reducing the excise further and permitting drinking in public places.

What has come as a dampener which is otherwise a paradise for the lovers of “the daughter of grapes” is the drive against drunken driving, launched by the Chandigarh Police in recent days. The drunkards simply can’t believe that driving after drinking is an offence. Reeking of liquor and driving late night on the city streets, these “gentlemen” and “Gentlewomen” were shocked when the police impounded their license and told them to call home and get a sober person to drive them home. “I get sober and become normal only after three pegs,” one of them told the police.

“If there is paradise on earth (for us), it is here. It is here. It is here,” exclaimed a 30-something person, on a high after gulping down half a bottle of whisky with his favorite “drinking accessory”. He did not remember who had written it but vividly remembers the inconvenience of drinking in several cities and the ease of it in the “city beautiful”. He has another motto – “Live here, drink here and die here”.

His friend, who had gulped down the other half of the whisky bottle, was listening to the conversation, nodded in agreement.

(July 28, 2011)

Amarinder focuses fire on Badals

PUNJAB ELECTIONS

July 27, 2011 11:35:39 PM

Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh

Punjab Assembly elections may be over six months away but Captain Amarinder Singh’s body language suggests as if he has already won the elections and is on the way of becoming the Chief Minister of Punjab once again.

The President of the Punjab Congress has only abuses and contempt for his rivals and hurls them at the slightest pretext. On the firing line are obviously his Akali Dal rivals - the father son duo of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.

“He is trying to mislead the people of Punjab…It is a complete fraud with the people of the state,” Singh said at a news conference here on Wednesday, while referring to a slew of urban reforms initiative announced by the Deputy CM at Jalandhar last week.

The Captain is not contemptuous to the Deputy CM alone. Referring to CM Badal’s criticism of Surjeet Singh Barnala and the Rajeev - Longowal pact, he said, “this (criticism) is a reflection on his (Badal’s) character. Badal has only used the events in Punjab to promote himself. He has sacrificed Punjab for personal ends.” The former Chief Minister, who had joined the Akali Dal briefly in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar in 1984, narrated some incidents from the heydays of terrorism to point out the “double character” of the septuagenarian Badal.

Captain’s verbal barbs were also directed at Sukhbir’s wife and MP from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Asked in a press conference if his son Raninder Singh intended to contest the forthcoming Assembly elections, he said, “no. He (Raninder) wants to contest against… what is her name…”? Then someone prompted that it was Harsimrat. The Captain conveniently forgot it and mispronounced the name, apparently to ridicule the Badal family.

In another instance during the 50-minute long interaction with the media of the city, he attacked Vikramjit Singh Majithia, the brother in law of Sukhbir Badal on a pointed question. “They may bring in sons, daughters, grandchildren, uncles, nephews, Congress will win.”

The Captain also took a jibe at the age of the senior Badal. “My uncle studied with him in college…He is over 90…I don’t know what is his actual age though he claims to be 83,” Amarinder Singh told mediapersons at the Chandigarh Press Club on Wednesday.

Observers here say that with political discourse reaching a low, hitting below the belt has become a norm rather than an exception. The Akali Dal too has been indulging in it. But the new found obsession of the Captain with the Akalis and the Badal family has baffled the political observers here. The Badals have become the only agenda of the Congress in the run-up to the Assembly polls which has so far failed to come out with what it intends to do if and when it comes to power.

http://dailypioneer.com/356449/Amarinder-focuses-fire-on-Badals.html

Battle of Badals heats up political climate

July 23, 2011 10:45:10 PM

Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh

The Manpreet Singh Badal and the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) factor finally seems to be hurting the parent party. The admission has come from no other than the Shiromani Akali Dal supremo and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal himself.

In every political meeting and Sangat Darshan (exercise to meet people and address grievances), the Badal patriarch has something nasty or emotional to say about his nephew Manpreet. This has only intensified in recent weeks even though when Manpreet was expelled from the party, the senior Badal had simply shrugged off the matter as having no political consequence.

For the SAD, it is now clearly a fight against two political enemies. While Congress is obviously the enemy Number one, no one is in any doubt now that Manpreet is the enemy Number two. The SAD fears that if he makes even a slight dent into the traditional vote-bank of the party, the consequences could be alarming. Fighting anti incumbency and a resurgent Congress, SAD simply cannot afford to have any erosion in its rural-farmer-panthic vote bank, assiduously built over the last few decades.

No wonder, in the run-up to the Assembly polls, SAD is targeting both the Congress and PPP of Manpreet. If the PPP issues any statement, SAD retaliates by countering it the same evening or the next day. A senior party functionary says that this is an admission of the fact that you cannot turn a blind eye to PPP any more.

Sample this: An emotional senior Badal says that the death of his wife and Manpreet leaving the parent party hurt him. Manpreet retaliates saying he was expelled and did not leave on his own accord.

-Manpreet says the creation of Punjabi Suba was a mistake. SAD retaliates saying the statement is malicious and misleading.

- The uncle says that Manpreet committed political suicide by leaving his parent party and he did all this at the behest of the Congress terming him as opportunist. The nephew reiterates that he never left the party and was expelled and he only talks about the future well being of the state.

- The PPP chief says wrong policies and mistakes has led Punjab away from the path of progress and development, the SAD retaliates saying the state is marching ahead with progress and prosperity.

The war of words between the SAD and PPP has only intensified in recent weeks. Clearly, SAD is now politically pitted against two outfits and it is not to its liking. “In fact, SAD has provided more credence to the PPP by reacting to it. Manpreet should be left alone. He cannot survive politically beyond the assembly elections,” a party worker said, a sentiment which a lot of SAD sympathizers hold.

Badal, who will perhaps spearhead the party for the last time in 2012 polls, before handing over the baton to his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, has spent a lot of time in Gidderbaha, the home turf of Manpreet in the Badals stronghold of the Malwa region recently. He has reached out to the people like never before and indicated in no uncertain terms that Manpreet is an outsider, was some kind of a villain and it was only due to SAD’s patronage that he became the Finance Minister of the state and acquired any stature.

Taking the threat of Manpreet seriously, Badal senior has tried to win over the SAD MLAs who decided to support the former Finance Minister. A case in point is Beas MLA Manjinder Singh Kang who has for all practical purposes now deserted Manpreet to go back to the parent party.

Political observers are closely watching how the Badals versus Badal battle will unfold as the final overs of the political match are played out in the next few months.

http://dailypioneer.com/355456/Battle-of-Badals-heats-up-political-climate.html

Haryana Cong meet held in New Delhi

July 20, 2011 10:55:59 PM

Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh

With discontent brewing in the Haryana Congress on a range of issues, a meeting of the Coordination committee of the party was held in New Delhi on Wednesday to thrash out the differences and put the ruling party back on the tracks of governance.

As expected, the party officially ruled out any differences amongst the warring leaders. “We mainly discussed the implementation of the flagship programmes of the UPA I and II. This meeting was for better coordination between the party and the government. There are no differences in the party,” All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary in-charge of Haryana, B K Hariprasad told The Pioneer on phone from New Delhi.

However, sources said that there were several demands put forward by the group which is considered opposed to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. This included allegations that development work was not balanced in the state.

“The development is skewed. Those who differ with the Chief Minister find that the projects have been shifted to the constituencies of those who are loyal to the CM. In addition, projects are being continuously taken to the Rohtak region, the area represented by Hooda and his son, Deepender Hooda” a party leader said.

Asked about the demands of party leaders that development was not evenly spread out in the state, Hariprasad said, “It is natural for leaders to demand more projects in their areas. We do not see it as a difference.”

Questions were also raised in the meeting about Ministers not being involved in decision making as Cabinet meetings are rarely held, centralization of power in the hands of Hooda and constitution of the two bodies for selection of candidates for various government posts in the state.

This was the first meeting of the coordination committee after Hariprasad took over as the party in-charge of the state from Prithviraj Chavan, who was sent to Maharashtra as the Chief Minister.

Those who attended the meeting included Chief Minister Hooda, Union Minister Shelja, Rajya Sabha MPs Birender Singh and Ram Prakash, PCC President Phool Chand Mullana and Minister in the Haryana government, Captain Ajay Singh Yadav.

The meeting took place in the backdrop of Hooda removing Captain Yadav from the crucial Finance department for opposing the land acquisition policy of the state, particularly agricultural land for industrial projects. As the minister holding the Finance Department is practically considered as Number two in the government, Yadav took umbrage and met party President Sonia Gandhi to apprise her of the developments in the state.

To a query about the land acquisition policy in the state and whether it needs to be modified in view of the opposition by leaders like Shelja and Captain Yadav, Hariprasad said that the law needs to be amended. “The land acquisition law needs to be amended. A Bill will be passed by Parliament to this effect and all the suggestions made by leaders from the state would be incorporated,’ he said.

Ironically, scion of the Gandhi-Nehru family and General Secretary Rahul Gandhi had praised the land acquisition policy of Haryana in his Padyatra to enlist the support of the farmers in western UP. The same policy has been criticised by his party leaders in the state as several farmers’ agitation have been going on, including one in Ambala, the Lok Sabha constituency of Shelja.

Hariprasad said that another agenda for the meeting was nominations to the posts in various Boards and Corporations of the state. He said after getting the list from the state, it would be forwarded to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi for approval.

On the party strategy for the Hissar bye-election, the AICC General Secretary said the Coordination committee discussed the issue but has left the matter to Gandhi. The seat fell vacant following the death of Haryana Janhit Congress leader and MP Bhajan Lal. He said more such meetings would be held in the future for coordination between the party and the government.

http://dailypioneer.com/354686/Haryana-Cong-meet-held-in-New-Delhi.html

Cong, Opp lampoon Rahul praise for Hooda

July 12, 2011 1:17:38 AM

Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh

Rahul Gandhi hailing Haryana’s land acquisition policy during his much publicised Padyatra in western UP has ruffled quite a few feathers in the state.

His statement praising the state government has not gone down well with farmers who have been sitting on dharna in the state against land acquisition. Several of them do not want to cede even an inch of productive agricultural land for industrial development.

The Congress General Secretary’s praise of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s policy, has also upset the applecart of a few senior Congress leaders of the state who have been quite vocal against land acquisition for industrial projects.

During his protest march in BSP-ruled UP, Gandhi had cited the example of Congress-ruled Haryana, saying “farmers were happy in Haryana and there are no problems there…In Haryana there were no dharnas either as the farmers were paid market rates for their land acquired…”

In fact, farmers of Panjokhra village have been sitting on a fast in front of civil secretariat at Ambala city for last almost two months to protest against the acquisition of their 1852 acres of land for setting up IMT.

“Congress suffers from selective amnesia. As Rahul Gandhi has not visited Haryana recently, he is perhaps not aware of the plight of the farmers here who do not want to sell their land to the government at any cost,” said a Congress leader, who did not want to be named.

Union Minister Shelja has openly voiced her concern against land acquisition in her constituency Ambala for an Industrial Model Township. Similarly Captain Ajay Singh Yadav, Cabinet Minister in the Hooda government, too has practically raised a banner of revolt against such acquisitions. He has been quite vocal on the issue and had even met party President Sonia Gandhi to apprise her of the situation.

After being divested of the crucial Finance Department, Yadav, a six-time MLA said, “I still stand by my earlier objections against the land acquisition policy. Fertile land of the farmers should not be acquired for industrial projects and developed plot should be given to the farmers whose land has been acquired for such projects.”

Interestingly, even though Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Gandhi-Nehru family, has been praising Hooda, his party’s Yadav has been consistent in his criticism against the land acquisition policy. In fact, he has written letters to Hooda asking him to stop land acquisition of more than 450 acres of productive land of Kapriwas, Malpura, Gujjar Ghatal and Mehaniawas villages for industrial model township at Dharuhera in Rewari for another IMT.

Ironically, all Congress leaders in the state, who are opposed to Hooda in the factional politics of the Congress here, have targeted him only on the issue of land acquisition. Apart from Yadav and the Union Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja, Congress General Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh too has expressed such sentiments in the past. Selja has written to party President Sonia Gandhi seeking her intervention on the issue.

Hooda, however, defends land acquisitions for industrial purposes. “Industrial development is the only alternative at a time when the land holding of the people is getting depleted and the youth of the State are finding it hard to get employment amid the scarcity of government jobs,” he told a rally in Ambala last month, the constituency of his bitter critic Selja.

After Gandhi hitting out at UP Chief Minister Mayawati and praising Hooda during his padyatra, those opposed to Hooda’s land acquisition policy in the Congress have fallen silent. They preferred not to respond to the issue this time.

The state BJP, however, has hit out at the Congress and Gandhi. State party President Krishan Pal Gurjar said that neither Gandhi nor the central Congress leaders have shown any concern even as the farmers have been agitating in different parts of the state for over a year against land acquisition. Haryana Janhit Congress chief Kuldeep Bishnoi has also criticised Gandhi for “double standards” and ignoring the plight of farmers in Haryana and campaigning only in Uttar Pradesh for political reasons and not concern for the farmers.

http://dailypioneer.com/352568/Cong-Opp-lampoon-Rahul-praise-for-Hooda.html

Babu-neta nexus at zenith as poll nears

July 07, 2011 10:48:45 PM

Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh

The politicisation of bureaucracy and the bureaucratisation of politics is almost complete in Punjab in the run-up to the state assembly elections. For many in the state, both politics and bureaucracy, which also comprises the police, go hand in hand and there is hardly a dividing line between the two.

With Assembly elections a little over six months away and stakes very high, political parties have roped in the bureaucracy for furthering their agenda while the bureaucrats are courting the political masters to gain a foothold in the rough and unpredictable world of politics.

At least four police officers, some retired, some serving, are eyeing politics as a new career. This includes the Director General of Police P S Gill who is expected to contest from Moga on an Akali Dal ticket. There are many others who are waiting in the wings – willing to put in their papers to contest the Assembly polls if given a party ticket.

Retired IPS officer Mohammad Izhar Alam, who made his mark during the era of militancy, too is expected to put his hat in the ring from Malerkotla Assembly constituency – the only segment in the state where the Muslims have a decisive role in ensuring the victory of a candidate. If nominated, he will contest against Razia Sultana, the wife of his former colleague in the IPS, Mohammad Mustafa, now Additional DGP. Alam officially joined SAD after retirement and was subsequently made Chairman of the Punjab Waqf Board.

Former DGPs Chander Shekhar and SS Virk too are expected to try their hands in politics, both as Congress nominee. Virk, perceived to be very close to Captain Amarinder Singh, was the DGP during the Congress regime and was persecuted by the Vigilance when SAD came to power. He was closely identified with the Congress when he was the DGP and then chargesheeted and accused of “politicking and misuse of official position” when SAD-BJP came to power in 2007.

A similar charge is now being made against the present DGP, P S Gill by both the Congress and the Punjab People’s Party (PPP) headed by Manpreet Singh Badal. Gill will retire in September and can contest the polls, scheduled to be held in February, without any problem. Sources have ruled out any extension being given to him. Moreover, the Election Commission is likely to scuttle any such move and will play a major role in the selection of the next DGP in the state who will take the state to polls.

Not only the police, even the civil servants in the race for contesting the polls. Prominent amongst them is D S Guru, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and an IAS officer of the 1980 batch. Unlike DGP Gill, the officer will have to put in his papers if he decides to contest the polls.

Captain Amarinder Singh, former CM and PCC President, alleged that some of the officers are “acting like Jathedars” of the Akali Dal and claimed that he had never seen such politicization of bureaucrats in his political career spanning 42 years.

Manpreet Badal’s PPP has submitted a memorandum to the Governor alleging harassment of his workers at the behest of the “politicised” police and bureaucracy. He said the DGP has become a “stakeholder” in subverting the democratic process. The memorandum to the Governor has also accused senior bureaucrats of favouring the ruling dispensation to silence the opposition.

In the deeply divided politics of the state, the fault lines run deep. The state has been swinging one way (SAD) or the other (Congress) for the last over three decades. No wonder the police officers and bureaucracy too swing from one party to the other. A few have permanent allegiance to one party while the remaining prefer to be neutral, knowing well that reprisals and poor postings could follow if “their” political party does not come back to power.

“It requires a delicate balancing act…We have to be on guard all the time so that we are not identified with a particular party,” summed up a senior Punjab official.

http://dailypioneer.com/351456/Babu-neta-nexus-at-zenith-as-poll-nears.html

Old rivals Punjab, Haryana spar over Hansi-Butana canal

July 01, 2011 12:20:31 AM

Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh

The unusual heavy showers in the region in June and the possibility of early flood have led to a major tug of war between the two old rivals – Punjab and Haryana. This time it is on the issue of a canal wall which Punjab says has the potential to flood its farmland while Haryana maintains that its construction is necessary to prevent its low lying areas from flooding.

Reminiscent of the Satluj-Yamuna Link canal (SYL) of yesteryears, the issue of Hansi-Butana canal threatens to snowball into a major controversy in the poll bound Punjab, ruled by the SAD-BJP combine and Haryana ruled by arch rival, Congress.

The SYL issue was central to the dispute of the two states for decades so much so that it even became an emotional issue in Punjab and during the days of militancy, the extremist leaders often cited it as a “discriminatory factor” against the Centre to mobilise the people.

As elections draw closer, Punjab has raised the tempo and the SAD leaders are again exploiting the sentiments of the farmers alleging that the Congress led central government and the party run Haryana have completely ignored the interests of Punjab and hundreds of farmers are set to face flood in Patiala district due to the construction of a concrete wall on the Hansi-Butana canal on the borders of the two state.

The latest bone of contention between the two states is the 3.75 km concrete wall, built by Haryana on the Hansi-Butana canal. While Haryana insists that it is being built on their side of the border to protect the fields from being submerged every year due to the monsoons, Punjab says that the wall would have severe implications, flooding 20,00 acres of farmland affecting 30 odd villages.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday sought the intervention of his Haryana counterpart Bhupinder Singh Hooda to immediately issue instructions to the concerned authorities to stop the work on Hansi-Butana canal. “The canal had been constructed without any technical study on the aspect of likely impact of blockade of sheet flow of flood waters caused by the construction of the embankments on the state of Punjab,” Badal said in a statement. The CM said the work has been undertaken without any concurrence of the Punjab government.

Playing the political card, Punjab Irrigation minister J S Sekhon said that the Centre was supporting the Haryana government and the interests of Punjab have been completely ignored. “This area suffered a lot during the flood last year. Natural flow of water is being obstructed. All political parties in Punjab should unite against this wall and approach the central government,” he said.

Joining issues with his Punjab counterpart, Haryana Irrigation Minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha said, “The issue is being politicised”. He said the hue and cry over the issue was entirely due to the impending elections.

The confrontation between the two states on water is almost as old as the creation of the states itself in 1966, after Haryana was carved out from Punjab. Both being agricultural state, sharing river water became a major issue of confrontation since then.

Earlier this year, Punjab CM Badal announced in the State Assembly that his government would not share “even a single drop” of water with other states. Not to be left behind, Hooda replied back saying that they would not allow anybody to deprive their rights of having waters of Ravi and Beas rivers.

The Haryana Assembly also proposed for a solution to the SYL canal dispute at the earliest, and the operationalisation of Hansi-Butana link (HBL) canal. The state government has also sought intervention of the Centre saying Punjab had flouted the 1981 pact and agreements related to Ravi-Beas Water Treaty Act.

Now with politics coming into play, the Hansi-Butana canal is set to become a major poll issue in Punjab. While the presidential reference on the complicated SYL issue is pending in the apex court for several years now, the latest row on the canal too has reached the Supreme Court even though no orders have been passed as of now. But the two states continue to take sharp barbs at each other for consumption amongst their respective support base.

(July 1. 2011) http://dailypioneer.com/349775/Old-rivals-Punjab-Haryana-spar-over-Hansi-Butana-canal.html